Helen Gibson Movies
Sources differ as to whether dark-haired American stunt woman/actress Helen Gibson actually enjoyed the benefit of clergy when "marrying" future cowboy star Hoot Gibson at the Pendleton Roundup in Oregon in 1911. Gibson herself always maintained that they were husband and wife and "The Hooter" certainly appeared the jealous husband when, in 1915, she replaced Helen Holmes in the long-running Hazards of Helen series and became the Gibson family's main breadwinner. Born Rose August Wenger but changing her name to fit her new role on and off the screen, Helen Gibson succeeded Helen Holmes after years as a stunt rider with the famous Miller 101 Wild West Show and as an eight dollars-a-week extra for film producer Thomas Ince. She was actually much livelier and arguably a better actress than her predecessor and the series made her a top action star. The Hazards of Helen finally ended in 1917 and Gibson would find the coming decade less hospitable. No longer with Hoot Gibson, she also suffered the indignity of going bankrupt in an attempt to produce her own starring vehicles. But despite setbacks, Helen Gibson persevered due to her superior riding skills and film work kept coming her way, right through to the 1960s and John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), for which she reportedly earned 35 dollars driving a team of horses. Helen Gibson lived long enough to become part of the nostalgia boom and often shared her recollections with readers of such publications as Films in Review. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1954
This sixth in the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series produced by Universal stars (as usual) Marjorie Main as Ma and Percy Kilbride as Pa. After a whirlwind international tour, the contest-winning rustics and their fifteen children return to their old farm. The eldest Kettle son (Brett Halsey) has a chance of winning a scholarship prize to a prestigious university, prompting the Kettles to try to impress a representative (Alan Mobray) of the magazine offering the scholarship. The magazine man is arrogant beyond belief, but a warm and fuzzy Christmas celebration humanizes the pompous visitor, so everything ends happily (after the expected slapstick finale, that is!) Considered the best of the "Kettle" series, Ma and Pa Kettle at Home is worth the admission price if only to hear the veddy British Alan Mobray say the word "Ma". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, (more)
- 1953
John Auer directed and Steve Fisher wrote this police procedural film in the vein of the popular Detective Story of two years earlier. The film juggles around four characters through a particularly bad night in a Chicago precinct -- Johnny Kelly (Gig Young), a stressed out cop ready to crack; Sally "Angel Face" Connors (Mala Powers), a cheap strumpet lounge singer; Hayes Stewart (William Talman), a former magician and present thug; Penrod Biddel (Edward Arnold), a smooth and corrupt district attorney; and Sgt. Joe (Chill Wills), an Everyman character, known as "The Voice of Chicago." The skimpy plot concerns Kelly, who is having an affair with Angel Face and is ready to quit his job and leave his wife Kathy (Paula Raymond) at the drop of a hat. In order to get quick money to escape Chicago and start life anew with Angel Face, Kelly accepts an assignment and a payment from Biddel to escort low-life Stewart across the state line. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gig Young, Mala Powers, (more)
- 1951
Economically utilizing the Universal Studio itself as a "set," Hollywood Story is a murder mystery centered in the film capital. The story concerns a long-unsolved homicide case involving several silent-film stars (an echo of the William Desmond Taylor scandal of 1922). Producer Richard Conte decides to make a movie based on the case, and to this end rounds up its surviving participants, including a once-great star/director (Henry Hull) reduced to bit parts. The denouement holds no surprises for mystery fans, but is effectively staged by director William Castle. Hollywood Story is given the aura of verisimilitude by the presence of several silent-movie celebrities (including William Farnum and Francis X. Bushman) as "themselves." Also appearing in an unheralded bit part is Elmo Lincoln, moviedom's first "Tarzan." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Conte, Julie Adams, (more)
- 1950
Fast on the Draw was one of six Lippert Studios "Four Star" westerns, all of which were filmed simultaneously in the space of a single month. Jimmy Ellison plays Shamrock, a Colorado Ranger who suffers from a fear of firearms. Despite this handicap, Shamrock is assigned to pose as a gunman, the better to get the goods on a crooked land baron. As in the early "Four Star" outings, Ellison's co-stars are Russ Hayden, Raymond Hatton, Fuzzy Knight and Betty (later Julie) Adams. Cast as the outlaw leader is Tom Tyler, whose performance is hampered somewhat by encroaching arthritis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Ellison, Russell Hayden, (more)
- 1950
Crooked River is another of Lippert Studio's "Four Star" western series. These six films were shot back-to-back in the space of a month; all were directed by Thomas Carr, and all starred Russell "Lucky" Hayden, Jimmy "Shamrock" Ellison, Raymond Hatton, Fuzzy Knight and Betty (later Julie) Adams. This time, Shamrock hopes to avenge the murder of his parents. The clue to the killer's identity is a ring, stolen from Shamrock's father. Director Thomas Carr was later a leading light of TV's Superman. Crooked River was released to television as The Last Bullet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Ellison, Russell Hayden, (more)
- 1935
In this western, cattlemen and sheepherders battle it out to see who really can make their home on the range. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This greatest of all Frankenstein movies begins during a raging thunderstorm. Warm and cozy inside their palatial villa, Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon), Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), and Shelley's wife Mary (Elsa Lanchester) engage in morbidly sparkling conversation. The wicked Byron mockingly chastises Mary for frightening the literary world with her recent novel Frankenstein, but Mary insists that her horror tale preached a valuable moral, that man was not meant to dabble in the works of God. Moreover, Mary adds that her story did not end with the death of Frankenstein's monster, whereupon she tells the enthralled Byron and Shelley what happened next. Surviving the windmill fire that brought the original 1931 Frankenstein to a close, the Monster (Boris Karloff) quickly revives and goes on another rampage of death and destruction. Meanwhile, his ailing creator Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) discovers that his former mentor, the demented Doctor Praetorius (Ernst Thesiger), plans to create another life-sized monster -- this time a woman! After a wild and wooly "creation" sequence, the bandages are unwrapped, and the Bride of the Monster (Elsa Lanchester again) emerges. Alas, the Monster's tender efforts to connect with his new Mate are rewarded only by her revulsion and hoarse screams. "She hate me," he growls, "Just like others!" Wonderfully acted and directed, The Bride of Frankenstein is further enhanced by the vivid Franz Waxman musical score; even the film's occasional lapses in logic and continuity (it was trimmed from 90 to 75 minutes after the first preview) are oddly endearing. Director James Whale was memorably embodied by Ian McKellen in the Oscar-winning 1998 biopic Gods and Monsters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, (more)
- 1934
In this western, a miner heads back East and ends up traveling with a wagon train. He carries with him a map of his recently discovered claim. Among his comrades is a group of outlaws planning to ambush the train so they can get hold of the map. To do this, they start the local Indians on the warpath. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Dorothy Dix, (more)
- 1933
In this western, the locals are being plagued by "Black Death" an evil outlaw who shoots victims with chemical bullets that turn them black. He is pursued by a brave Texas Ranger. When the ranger learns that the killer is following a wild West show --the one the ranger used to work in--the hero rejoins. He soon catches up to the crook and ends up following him to Mexico. A deadly gunfight ensues and the Black Death finally dies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Lucille Browne, (more)
- 1932
The third in a series of six Jack Hoxie Westerns produced by poverty row company Majestic, this film featured the former silent screen cowboy doing what he did best: ridin' and shootin'. Hoxie plays a gun fighter, Montana, hired by a Spanish landowner, Lopez (Bob Burns), to investigate a series of cattle rustlings. The trail leads Montana and sidekick Pancho (Julian Rivero) to crooked ranch foreman Tex Barnes (Yakima Canutt). Briefly detained for allegedly shooting a guard, Montana and Pancho break out of jail and force Barnes to take them to his boss, evil rancher Cash Hopson (J. Frank Glendon). Cleared of any wrongdoing, Montana can settle down with his sweetheart, Lopez' daughter Rosita (Hilda Moreno). Producer Henry L. Goldstone peppered the cast with former silent screen players, including Canutt, Glendon, Wally Wales, Helen Gibson, Alma Rayford, Charles "Slim" Whitaker, and Ben Corbett. Hoxie's second wife, trick rider Dixie Starr, appeared in an unbilled bit. Leading lady Hilda Moreno, who also acted under the name "Hilda Moore," should not be confused with British-born character actress Hilda Moore (1886-1929). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1932
Former silent teenage star Buzz Barton headlines this juvenile Western from low-rent Big 4 Film Corp. directed by the veteran J. P. McGowan. The freckled Master Barton plays Buzz Dale, a young boy who becomes a local hero after stopping a runaway stage. Buzz's heroic act, however, does not sit well with Duke Remsden (Edmund Cobb), the secret leader of a gang of stagecoach robbers who plans to frame his romantic rival Bart Travis (Francis X. Bushman Jr.) for the attempted robbery. Dressed as Travis, Remsden commits another crime, but Buzz discovers his hideout and is able to alert the sheriff (Franklyn Farnum). In the end, Bart is saved in the nick of time from a necktie party by Buzz and black stable hand Snowflake (Fred Toones). Remsden is finally brought to justice. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buzz Barton
- 1928
Although not quite the epic its title suggested, this 10 chapter Western serial from genre specialist Mascot was certainly star-studded. Nine former Western stars was added to the line-up by enterprising producer Nat Levine: Jack Perrin, Eileen Sedgwick, Jack Daugherty, Yakima Canutt, Leo Maloney, William Fairbanks, Helen Gibson, Fred Church and Bob Burns. All had been popular at various times in the 1920s but were now at large in a fast-changing Hollywood at the advent of sound. Perrin played Jack Marvin, a fugitive from justice attempting to rescue little Wally Lee (Mickey Bennett) from the clutches of an evil uncle. There is a mysterious fortune at stake but Jack manages to save both the boy and the fortune in the appropriately named final chapter, "The End of the Trail." The Vanishing West, however, was merely the beginning for the enterprising Mascot studio, which continued to grind out serials until swallowed up by Republic Pictures in March of 1935. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Based on a novel by the prolific B.M. Bower (pseudonym for novelist Bertha "Muzzy" Sinclair), The Wolverine starred former serial queen and stunt-woman Helen Gibson as a rancher who stands up for an employee (Jack Connolly) unjustly accused of cattle rustling. Ward Warren (Connolly) had come West after serving a prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit. History repeats itself for Ward when a couple of bandits he had chased off the land, accuses him of being a rustler himself. The former common-law wife of Hoot Gibson, Gibson (née Rose Wenger) had gained stardom replacing Helen Holmes in the long-running The Hazards of Helen. By no means a traditional screen beauty -- but spirited -- Gibson's starring career was brief, and she returned to stunt-doubling in talkies. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Hard-working rancher Bruce McLeod (Ed Coxen) loses his wife (veteran screen actress Mignon Anderson) to notorious gambler Fred Cullum (Leo Maloney). Still searching for his wife and child many years later, McLeod comes upon a kind-hearted dancehall hostess (Helen Gibson) caring for a young child that turns out to be his own long-lost offspring. The woman had failed to rescue Mrs. McLeod from the vicious gambler, but had raised the child as her own. Instead of being grateful, McLeod will have nothing to do with what he considers a fallen woman. All that changes, however, when the nasty Cullum returns. No Man's Woman is a Western melodrama harking back to the first decade of the 20th century, and was produced by its female star, Helen Gibson, the former rodeo rider and common-law wife of Universal star Hoot Gibson. The film was re-released the following year as Nine Points of the Law. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Gibson, Edwin Coxen, (more)
